Rahime Sultan
Esma Sultana, Sultan Abdülmecid’s aunt, languishes in the magnificent palace where she lives in state. She is lonely and unhappy because she is childless. She decides to adopt Rahime, a one year old girl from Halil Bey, a Circassian nobleman. The girl is petite and gracefully delicate, like a bird in flight. Esma nicknames her Perestû, which means “Swallow”. She loves her little swallow and lavishes her with the finest education in courtly manners and the arts, and keeps her outside the gossip of the harem.
The years pass. Rahime is now fourteen, still thin and willowy, as graceful as any bird in the sky. On a fine spring day, the Sultan catches sight of her as he walks in the garden. He is captivated by her, he cannot get her out of his mind. He quizzes everyone about the identity of the alluring blue-eyed girl, but no one seems to know her. In desperation he turns to his aunt.
Esma realizes immediately that he is talking about her daughter Rahime, the Swallow. In an effort to help Abdülmejid forget her daughter, Esma brings together all the finest and most beautiful concubines of the Palace to amuse her nephew. She hopes that the Sultan will develop an interest in one of them and forget his hunt for Perestû. But the Sultan is seriously smitten by the little bird, he cannot get Rahime out of his mind. Esma accepts the inevitable and orders the harem-master to find Rahime. “Fetch Perestû and order her to bring a cup of coffee to my Lion!”
Soon enough the blue-eyed girl enters the hall bearing coffee that she serves in diamond encrusted cups for the pleasure of the Sultan. And as tradition dictates, she waits modestly until he has finished his coffee. Abdülmecid does not hesitate. He holds both of his aunt’s hands in his own and asks for her daughter’s hand in marriage. A week later Rahime “Perestû”, splendid in a pearl-embroidered red velvet gown, golden crown and veil, is driven to the palace in her mother’s silver-plated carriage. The year is 1844.
The road on which the bridal procession passes is sprinkled with gold, as sherbet is being served to the guests who are waiting in Topkapı Palace. Everything is very festive this day, in readiness for a magnificent wedding.
